SacredFacts

This is a Printing Office...

 

links for 2010-02-24

• How to measure ROI from Social Media
  (tags: socialmedia business roi digital marketing)

links for 2010-02-23

• BBC - dot.Rory: New tools for new journalists
  (tags: bbc citjo citizenjournalism rorycellanjones technology digital internet journalism)

links for 2010-02-16

• Power and the Philosopher: John Lloyd on Onora O'Neill
  Will the measures that protected free speech against state power also protect it against shifting constellations of market power with global reach? Or do we need to review and revise classical accounts and justifications of free speech?”
  (tags: press media journalism freedome freespeech business onoraoneill johnlloyd RISJ)

Edelman

It's announced today that I'm joining Edelman in May as Global Vice Chairman and Chief Content Officer. It's a new role designed to develop the opportunities for organisations to use digital media to connect directly with the public. I will also be helping to run their crisis and issues practice. 

When I decided to leave the BBC I wanted to find a job that was:

- very different, but..

- still connected to global affairs

- involved in digital media

- in a creative organisation

Edelman ticks all of those boxes. They are an organisation that I have admired for taking a leading role in the use of social media, and their work on Trust and Public Engagement among other issues. 

Some people will be surprised that a journalist who has stuck his neck out on many occasions for the independence of  news media has joined a PR company. It misses the point. Edelman are redefining corporate communications and growing fast. As digital media explodes traditional channels, they are exploiting the new opportunities that are opening up.  It's a stake in the future - I'm looking forward to it.

links for 2010-02-10

• Accelerating towards crisis: a PR view of Toyota's recall | Business | guardian.co.uk
  Central to Toyota's problem is its perceived delay in identifying and addressing the situation in the first place. Whatever Toyota says now, and however well it acts, there is a sense that it ignored the problem until it was forced to take action.
  (tags: toyota insignia crisismanagement)

CitJo for CoJo

One of my last tasks for the BBC has been to make a short film for the College of Journalism on Citizen Journalism. After 5 or 6 years explaining why it matters,  Im almost talked out on the subject. However, it's now established as a core element of how news organisations all over the world report events.  

The film sets up what potential contributors may need to think about before sending material in to the BBC - or any other news organisation. Legal issues (libel, trespass, privacy) safety and logistics. 

It was filmed on one of the coldest days of the year and reminded me of two things:

- why I carved out a career off camera not on it.

- the artifice of filming. One of the benefits of material supplied by the public is its authenticity.

If it turns out to be any good it will be entirely due to the film and editing team. If not, its entirely my fault. 

Toyota - crisis recovery?

Two "crisis management experts" on CNBC admit Toyota was late to react to what the call the biggest consumer crisis of our times. But both suggest what is now in place will project Toyota forward. Not so sure. 

Is the Foreign Correspondent Redundant?

Notes from a talk I gave at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism:

The model of a Foreign Correspondent, working from a fixed overseas bureau is well established across all forms of international newsgathering - newspapers, wire agencies, broadcasters. It is rooted in the past and a model of news production based on limited number of organisations with sufficient resource, controlled distribution and ownership seeking prestige and influence.  However a wide range of pressures are undermining this model and providing opportunities - and imperatives - for news organisations to adopt a very different approach to reporting the world.

The economic pressures of maintaining overseas bureau have seen the numbers persistently reduced by the major anglo-centric news organisations over the last 20 years or more. There is much hand wringing about this within the industry but the continued decline of the traditional bureau now seems an inevitablility in the face of the economic pressures faced by corporate news media. This has led to a downward spiral in the quantity of international news being reported - particularly in the USA. (See PEJ and Tyndall) At the same time the opportunity for a "networked" and more open model for reporting international news is emerging from the bottom up.  

However it is not only economic pressures which are threatening the traditional Foreign Correspondent.

Globalisation has led to the merging of the international and domestic news agendas to a significant degree. For example, the Asian economies have a direct impact on jobs and pensions in Europe and the USA; global terrorism has led to developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan being of direct relevance to western populations and impact the domestic policies of the USA and European countries. CLimate change is another example of a global issue which directly impacts on the domestic agenda. As such, the way these issues are reported is no longer reliant on Foreign bureau and coprrespondents but, to a larger degree, on domestic specialist correspondents. A globalised world also makes the idea of "Foreign" redundant.

With increasingly multicultural societies, growing disapora communities and fragmented identities the notion of "home" and "foreign" becomes more complex. News about Pakistan is "home news" to millions in the UK.

This also leads to questions of portrayal and diversity, particularly for broadcasters. It is no longer acceptable for the only voices to report from an African famine to be white journalists and aid workers. Local journalists and stringers are taking a greater role and demanding greater recognition for their contribution to western news reporting. They are also often, although not entirely, able to offer greater depth and specialism. In parallel we have seen the growth of anti-hegemonic news services (Al Jazeera, Telesur, Press TV) in competition to the major western organisations.

In addition, the advance of newsgathering and communication technology has changed the process of international newsgathering. Bureau are being replaced by single multiskilled digital journalists (ABC News). And the availablity and speed of information available on the internet means a more accurate and speedier news report can often be assembled from the newsroom desk than on the ground - particularly in the first hours of a breaking news event. International news is being reshaped by technology. The lower barriers to entry have led to a flood of global news sources on TV and the internet - although newsgathering may paradoxically have shrunk (Chris Paterson: Leeds study 2006). 

Citizen journalism and social media are leading, supplementing and complementing what professional news organisations offer. (Mumbai, Iran, Haiti) Non-traditional sources and "middle media" services are growing requiring a redefinition of the relationship between public and journalist. (Global Voices, GroundReport, Global Post, Ushahidi..) Move from a hub to networked model of newsgathering. 

Finally, as the basic news role of the correspondent changes the commercial and competitive pressure for "impact" and "engagement" increases. In Haiti, we saw CNN reporters crossing the line of neutrality to rescue children on screen or even medically trained news staff to conduct operations on air. Fox News..."awards journalism"....This pressure to increase the impact and emotional engagement of news reports seems set to continue. 

Against this background, where does the primary public interest in "bearing witness" rest? Is that also being eroded or strengthened? How are these trends redefining how consumers learn about the world? And what are the risks and opportunities in this change?  (See Roger Cohen in NYT)

links for 2010-02-06

• The Irony of Iran's ‘Twitter Revolution'
  Global Voices on Iran and Twitter
  (tags: globalvoices socialmedia iran twitter news journalism digital)
• Haitis TV Doctors Not Unethical--Just Misleading
  Andrew Tyndall on US Haiti coverage
  (tags: haiti tv news us cnn ethics)
• McKinsey: What Matters: Investigative reporting in the Web era
  Propublica saving investigative journalism on the web?
  (tags: propublica investigative news journalism digital internet future futureofnews business)
• A Public Can Talk To Itself: Why The Future of News is Actually Pretty Clear
  Adrian Colovaty
  (tags: news journalism future futureofnews internet digital business)
• A quick guide to the maxims of new media | Mark Coddington
  new media soundbites roundup
  (tags: socialmedia news digital future)